Second Conviction of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Omsk Region: Two Men Sentenced to Forced Labor

April 29, 2026 — The Kirovskiy District Court of Omsk sentenced Sergey Rygaev and Leonid Pyzhov to three years and three and a half years of forced labor, respectively. Judge Aleksandr Borodin treated their meetings with friends to read the Bible and their faith in Jehovah God as extremist activity.

Both believers have secondary vocational education in the construction field. Sergey is a tinsmith—a master of a rare trade—and a recipient of the "Honorary Worker of the Oil and Gas Equipment Plant" award. Leonid is a mechanic; before his arrest, he worked as a driver for a social taxi service and managed a goods pick-up point. Both men have families; Sergey and his wife raised a son.

The criminal prosecution of Rygaev and Pyzhov began in March 2024, when searches and interrogations were carried out which, according to the believers, were accompanied by the use of force (Sergey had rib injuries documented). Leonid remembers the morning of the search in the smallest detail: "When I heard knocking, I opened the door. The investigator pulled out a gun and shoved it in my face." He was then thrown to the floor, struck in the face, pressing to give up his phone password. Leonid's wife, Tatyana, recalls: "I came back from work and saw only scattered things. No toothbrush, no towel, no slippers... That's when I realized they'd taken Leonid away. And that I was left alone—and for a long time."

After their detention, Leonid and Sergey spent almost half a year in a pretrial detention center. "When the door of the solitary cell in the basement slammed shut, my first thought was, 'Are these few square meters really going to be my place of residence for an indefinite period?'" Sergey described his first day behind bars. Leonid was also held in a similar cell. He recalls: "By the sixth month, it became genuinely hard." Leonid added that what comforted him at the time was a remark from another detainee in the detention center basement: "He said, 'I'll write to my mom that there are Jehovah's Witnesses here—really good people—so she shouldn't worry.'"

Over four and a half months of court hearings, the believers emphasized that no evidence was found to prove their guilt in extremism. The defense pointed to procedural violations: the judge restricted the attorney's ability to present evidence. This created additional pressure. During questioning, Leonid Pyzhov's blood pressure rose as high as 210 mmHg, after which he was hospitalized once.

The court heard numerous positive character references about the defendants. Oksana Rygaeva, Sergey's wife, said: "When people signed the references, they added how Sergey had helped them. Everyone noted how peaceable he is. Many found it unthinkable to see such a person in custody."

This is already the second conviction of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Omsk Region. On similar charges, three women were given suspended sentences, and one man was sent to a penal colony for three years.